1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the design of user interface in the context of electronic commerce. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a system and method for implementing an intermediary to preserve user privacy and anonymity in electronic transactions.
2. Related Art
In recent years, electronic commerce (e-commerce) has evolved to become an important part of modern commerce. New electronic storefronts spring up on the Internet daily, and many traditional sellers also have established their presence on the Internet or have plans to do in the near future. By way of background, the Internet is a worldwide collection of computer networks and gateways that generally use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. The Internet allows easy access to media and data from a variety of sources, and is capable of delivering such information to users wherever they may be. Over the past few years, the Internet has experienced vast commercialization and has evolved into a worldwide information super-highway and database, containing information on every subject known to humankind.
The most prevalent and popular aspect of the Internet is the World Wide Web (also called the “Web”). The Web is an Internet facility that allows a server computer system (e.g., a Web server or a Web site) to send Web documents, commonly known as Web pages, to a remote client computer system. The remote client computer system can then display the Web documents using a Web browser. Typically, a Web page contains links (hyperlinks) that let users jump from page to page whether the pages are stored on the same server or on different servers around the world.
The Web has become the center of Internet activity since, among other reasons, Web pages, containing both text and graphics, provide a user-friendly graphical interface to the Internet. The Web is also conducive for conducting e-commerce. Many Web servers have been developed through which on-line vendors (e-vendors) can advertise and sell products and services. Some e-vendors provide an on-line catalog listing the items that are available. A user may browse through the on-line catalog using a browser and select various items that he/she desires to order. Typically, when the user has finished selecting the items, he/she is then prompted to enter his personal information, such as credit card information, shipping address, etc., so as to complete the ordering process. The Web server then confirms the order by sending a confirmation Web page to the client computer and schedules shipment of the ordered items.
Nevertheless, many consumers feel uneasy or are even unwilling to engage in these on-line transactions due to the lack of anonymity. More particularly, during an electronic transaction, information about the transaction (e.g., items ordered) as well as information of a personal nature (e.g., name, address, credit card number of the consumer) are typically and necessarily sent to the vendor. While aggregating such information may be invaluable to the vendors for various purposes, such as using the information to track the buying habits of consumers and/or directing targeted advertising to them, the majority of consumers prefer to remain anonymous in on-line transactions so that their privacy can be better preserved. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a mechanism by which electronic transactions can be consummated without having to compromise the identity of individual consumers.
Another problem exists for consumers who patronize multiple e-vendors. Typically, each e-vendor requires a patron to establish a personal profile or account (e.g., setting up a user name and password) before a transaction can be entered into. The process of establishing such a profile or account must generally be repeated for each and every e-vendor that the consumer deals with as different e-vendors are usually not affiliated with one another and thus each maintains its own user accounts. Since these multiple accounts are created separately at different entities, more often than not they have different attributes, such as user names and passwords. Even where the consumer is allowed to choose his/her own user name, it is unlikely that the same user name can be had at the various e-vendors because a desired name is often already taken by another consumer. The situation is even less desirable where the e-vendor's system arbitrarily assigns a user name that does not bear any meaning to the consumer.
Due to the above reasons, an individual consumer who patronize multiple e-vendors must therefore remember all of his/her user names and their respective passwords as well as which e-vendor's Web site they each corresponds to in order to access those sites to transact business. As such, apart from being unable to remain anonymous as described above, it is also very cumbersome, confusing and inconvenient for the consumer to have to manage numerous unrelated and sometime convoluted user names and passwords. Therefore, it would be very beneficial to have a mechanism whereby the consumer can conveniently transact business with multiple e-vendors without having to deal with numerous unrelated user names and passwords for accessing individual Web sites and to do so anonymously.
A different but related problem presents itself for consumers who patronize multiple e-vendors. Since each e-vendor maintains its own user accounts, a consumer who conducts business with multiple e-vendors would receive separate transaction statements and correspondence (e.g., billing statements, order confirmations, etc.) from each individual e-vendor. The large volume of records and correspondence generated would quickly become cumbersome and unwieldy for the consumer to manage. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a mechanism that helps the consumer avoid having to handle vast amounts of records and correspondence from different e-vendors with whom the consumer transacts business.
Furthermore, it is appreciated that compatibility is essential in developing an interfacing mechanism. More specifically, different e-vendors are likely to set up different electronic storefronts (e.g., different Web site layout and navigation) in an e-commerce environment. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an interfacing mechanism for consumers to conveniently transact business with multiple e-vendors without compromising the individual consumer's identity and without the need to maintain numerous user names, passwords or transaction records such that the mechanism is compatible and applicable to differing Web sites that are present in the e-commerce environment.